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Investing.com -- SES SA (EPA:SESG) shares climbed 2.3% following an announcement from the Federal Communications Commission ( FCC (BME:FCC)) that could lead to additional revenue for the satellite operator. Brendan Carr, the head of the FCC, indicated in a blog post on Wednesday that the Commission is considering opening up more of the C-band spectrum for intensive use.
This move comes after a previous agreement where SES, along with other companies, was compensated for clearing part of the C-band spectrum to make way for mobile operators.
However, the situation is not without its uncertainties. Barclays (LON:BARC) commented on the development, stating, "This could of course be very positive for SES but there are a number of question marks which make this all very uncertain, in our view."
The FCC’s ongoing inquiry could potentially result in SES and Intelsat clearing an additional 100 MHz of C-band spectrum. If the companies are paid proportionately to the previous arrangement, SES could receive a significant sum before taxes.
As context, the last clearance process, which spanned from 2018 to 2020, resulted in SES being paid $3.7 billion. A similar payout for the additional spectrum clearance could greatly impact SES’s finances, given its current market cap of approximately €1.57 billion ($1.62 billion).
Intelsat has mentioned that SES will issue "contingent value rights" to Intelsat’s owners for up to 100 MHz more C-band spectrum to be cleared. Intelsat shareholders are slated to receive 42.5% of the proceeds from the spectrum sale.
Should the companies receive the same rate as before, the total payment could reach around $2.9 billion before tax, with SES’s share being approximately $1.65 billion. After a similar tax rate as the previous transaction, SES’s post-tax payment would be around $1.34 billion.
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